One of the cars on display at the dual event featured a “Ghostbusters” theme, with a skeleton behind the wheel in one of the uniforms that was featured in the film.
A campus of Cherry Hill’s Y.A.L.E School held its own Trunk or Treat on Oct. 18, combining it with the school’s third annual school car show.
Created in collaboration with the South Jersey Camaro Car Club, the show idea came from Gabriella Termine, who works for the school’s vocational co-op and has a background with the club. She also owns her own car business, where she often hosts automotive events.
Y.A.L.E – a state-approved private school that educates students with autism and learning disabilities – was looking for ways to further engage with the community.
“We also want to bring light to our program,” Termine explained.
Students from the school’s Bright Horizons 9 nonprofit and the Vocational Skills Lab and Co-op helped to create specialty trophies for the free show, part of an effort to teach young adults with developmental disabilities skills for the workforce.
In addition to being one of the organizers, Termine also brought her own vehicle, with its decals of the characters Boo and Sully from Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc” and Termine in a hooded costume from the film.
“I always theme my cars, and I had my students actually help me …” she said. “We rattled down a whole list, and Sully came to be because it’s a big blue monster. And I actually had them help me create the graphic design mock-up …
“So it’s neat, because there’s a little bit of my students touch on the car.”
Other vehicles at the show with movie themes or characters from pop culture included a neon green car with a decal from “Ghostbusters” and a plastic skeleton wearing a uniform from the film behind the wheel, as well as one with a “Wreck It Ralph” theme.
The hood of a bright orange car featured a decal of the cartoon cat Garfield, with another across the top of the windshield. He also popped up under the hood. The vehicle’s owner is Maribel Garfield of Patterson, who attended the show with her daughter Pina Rios and her grandchildren.
Maribel Garfield of … with her car decked out in Garfield the cat memorabilia.
The car and its orange paint were a gift from Garfield’s husband, who’s been competing in car shows for 11 years.
“She has over 400 trophies,” Rios noted, translating for her mother. “And she’ll drive all over the U.S. As long as it is drivable, she’ll attend any car shows. This is her thing. This is her baby.”
Manfred and Debbie Griebau of Millville have participated in the car show every year since it began, choosing a different Halloween decoration theme each time. This year, it was skeletons for their dark blue Chevy, with a plastic tortoise skeleton under the hood of the car and two other skeletons in the front seats. A howling dog skeleton was stationed in the back seat.
“We do this every year,” Manfred said, “and each year the decoration gets bigger and bigger.”
Township resident Chavonne Stulemmer attended the trunk or treat and car show with her children after learning about the event from an online group called Macaroni KID.
“We live in the town, figured we’d take a walk over and let the kids have some fun,” said Stulemmer, guiding her children between two parking lots to gather candy from owners of the cars. The event wrapped with a best costume contest, whose winners got the trophies created by the vocational students.
